Listen

We could talk about the opposing sides… Those in favor of gun control and those who are not. Those who are quick to the draw and those who wouldn’t dream of owning the “g” word. Those who condemn racist behavior and those who ignore it.
We could talk about bylaws and politics… When the Constitution and rights to own arms was first written and signed, it was giving permission for Americans to own muskets.
Muskets.
Muskets that take over a minute to load, several seconds to fire, and weigh approximately 20 pounds.
We could talk about the shift in revolutionary weaponry, what “arming yourself” means to citizens today, what shifting these laws to better align with the modern world’s weapons could look like, what it will look like if we do not do this.
We could even talk about the statistics… The clear, factual statement that gun violence disproportionately and overwhelmingly hurts communities of color. It is undeniable and irrefutable. While Black Americans made up 12.5 percent of the U.S. population in 2022, they were the victims in 61 percent of all gun homicides nation-wide, according to the Center for American Progress. Economic struggles, poverty, housing issues, job insecurity, the justice system, and so many additional factors play into why this statistic slaps us in the face time and time again.
But in the moment following the decision to take a life or attempt to, we should beckon our ears to hear only the gunshot’s echoes. Only the family’s cries and the mother’s grief, a hollow chamber that will forever sit inside of her. We should feel the sting of righteous anger and continue to listen for songs of redemption and truth, justice and mercy. The bullet that leaves each gun, carrying with it the loss of possibility, justice, and a life, keeps on going long after it hits someone. It travels through the family’s forever-changed lives, the community, and every other Black man who daily fears it is his. turn. next.
So, talk as much as you’d like. But only until we, as a nation, truly hear one another’s grief and pain, then and only then will a society arrive at change.